'MPCC has borne train fare of over 27,000 migrant labourers': Maharashtra Congress

When Centre was facing widespread criticism for making stranded migrant workers pay for ir return travel despite suffering unemployment due to lockdown, Congress President Sonia Gandhi had anunced that party will send m to ir native states free of cost. Acting on Sonia Gandhi's anuncement, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), in an official statement on Monday, said that till w 27,865 people had been sent to ir home states.

'Congress paid  cost of tickets'

Sonia Gandhi on May 4 had said that her party will bear cost for rail travel of every needy migrant worker and labourer to ir respective home towns during Coronvirus lockdown. "After migrant labourers were registered at district level, Congress paid cost of tickets of se people. Till w 27,865 workers have been sent back to ir native states," according to an official statement by MPCC.

"Energy Minister Nitin Raut has paid for four special trains, Minister Dr Vishwajeet Kadam and Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development minister Sunil Kedar paid for two trains to send migrant workers back to ir states. Meanwhile, Relief and Rehabilitation minister Vijay Wadettiwar and Women and Child Development Minister Yashomati Thakur too paid to send several workers back home," statement read.

It furr read, "As many as 3,567 workers were sent to ir states by private vehicles from Satara, Ahmednagar, Pune, Nagpur, Chandrapur, Kolhapur, Sangli. expense for ir travel too was borne by Congress. Food, masks and sanitizers were provided to workers during ir journey."

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"Apart from this, over 24,000 workers from or states like Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Karnataka have reached out to Congress for help. Arrangements will be made for m and, y will be sent back home soon," it read. Special Shramik trains have been operated from Nagpur to Muzzafarpur, Nagpur-Luckw, Wardha to Patna, Pune to Luckw, Nagpur to Darbhanga, Miraj to Gorakhpur, Chandrapur to Patna, Pune to Bhopal, Ahmednagar to Unnao, Nagpur to Ballia.

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(With ANI inputs)